U.S. TERROISTS SUSPECTS ARE HEADING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS BY AIR

Are We Still Considered Suspects?

By Victor M Adamus

A friend of mine who is taking his family home for Christmas to be with his elderly Mother was wondering if the flight will still include a TSA strip search and all the gadgets put in place to catch bad guys in the U.S. plotting to hijack a jet or bomb it or take control of the cockpit and fly it like a missile into the nearest building.  It’s been a decade since 9/11 and yet folks are still not used to being searched as they seek permission to board their flights.

I remember a one George Bush, still wet behind the ears, ignoring a security briefing by then Chief of Security Condoleezza Rice, that al Qaida was planning a major attack on the U.S.  He laughed it off, ignored the warning and finished the briefing playing golf that day.  Of course we all know the warning from the CIA and other intelligence agencies was right on.  But much of the warnings were ignored by even the highest officials in the intelligence community, who like the CIA said before Congress, we never got the memo.

The memo was a warning from an FBI outpost in Phoenix that told Washington that terrorists might be training at flight schools here in the U.S.  Two men, it said, on the CIA’s watch list as suspected Al Qaeda agents were learning to fly big jets.  Had they dugged deeper, they would have also learned these flight students only wanted to learn how to control the airplane, not take off or land one.

After 9/11 then Attorney General John Ashcroft had to assure the American public that law enforcement was doing its’ job by rounding up 60 international terrorists, almost 10 a month, mostly illegals from the Middle East with suspected ties to Al Qaeda.  It was a witch hunt resulting in 368 referred for prosecution of which none were prosecuted because of “lack of evidence of criminal intent” or “no federal offense evident.”

So the government went after every American living at the time and since to put in place a major search and pat down of all its' citizens who were flying from U.S. Airports.  Millions of Americans have been put through screenings by government contractors, largely TSA which has become a billion dollar business and now strip searches and X-ray equipment has been used to do nothing more than embarrass those who choose to fly the friendly skies.

Isn’t it about time we woke up? 

Ten years of patting down grandmas and checking 5 year old kids for bombs in their backpacks has resulted in no arrests but a few detainees, mostly from Arab speaking countries who end up suing the airlines and winning huge settlements.  It’s become a boondoggle and Congress should put on the brakes.  Stop this nonsense. 

Well, keeping people in fear is how some governments in history have gained more power over their people.  And Americans are no exception when the government wants a people to stew in paranoia.  And as new technologies advance, the search capabilities will be more intrusive and American citizens will be subject to those new toys too.

The underwear bomber and the shoe bomber boarded their planes in other countries.  If you really want to cut spending Mr House Speaker, you can start with TSA for perpetuating a falsehood on the citizens who have to fly for work or want to fly to a vacation destination or in this case go home for Christmas.